Global sustainability: How can business schools contribute?
At the recent (April 2008) UNICON (Universities Consortium) conference held at Melbourne Business School's Mt Eliza executive education campus I was given the role of facilitating a morn- ing's session on global sustainability. We were fortunate in that we had two excellent speakers to set the scene, William Kininmonth, science advisor to the Science and Public Policy Institute and former head of Australia's National Climate Centre, and Kate Vinot, General Manager, Corporate Strategy for South East Water, one of Melbourne's major water organisations.
William Kininmonth argued that Humankind faces real problems but human-caused global warming is not one. However he claims that climate will change faster than we are prepared for and that water, renewable energy and food production are each regulated by changing climate. He also warned us that human survival is at threat and this is more to do with misunderstood science and misguided policies and that survival requires different policies to those for sustainability.
Examples he gave was the current thinking that Geosequestration (burying) CO2 to burn fossil fuels (non-renewable) faster was not a good answer, nor is the redirection of agricultural practices so that Bio-fuels replace food crops to the detriment of the world's poor. Environment policies focus on reducing CO2 emission rather than clean air, clean water, ecosystem preservation, etc
Kate Vinot argued that how business schools can contribute to global sustainability issues is by first building the capacity of organisations and individuals to grow shareholder value; secondly, and more particularly, by being the thought leaders on sustainability issues; and finally, to develop tools for sustaining organisational value for the longer term. To her sustainability means business school's addressing what are the:
- Direct impacts on many businesses
- Indirect impacts on many businesses
- Presents material opportunities and risks for sustained shareholder value
- Needs to be embraced as part of core business strategy and change management